HistoryPin Tour: Detroit's Chinese Community

Many people are surprised to learn that Detroit once had two Chinatowns, both built by a resilient community that thrived in the city for nearly 100 years. As Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month draws to a close, we invite you to visit our latest HistoryPin tour: a look back on Detroit's Chinese Community.

The interactive tour offer glimpses into the landscapes, both cultural and physical, of one of the city's earliest and influential communities of color. The photos range between the years of 1917 and 1977, with subjects including cultural events, social and community organizations, views of select businesses, fundraising efforts during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War, political demonstrations, portraits of community members, and the development of Detroit's two Chinatowns--the first at Third and Porter Streets and the second at Cass Avenue and Peterboro Street. In addition, the tour features a brief narrative overview of the development of the Chinese community in Detroit.

The images used in this HistoryPin Tour are courtesy of the Detroit News Photographs, a collection of nearly one million images that document to social, political, and cultural growth of the city from 1900-1983. These images were created to illustrate newspaper stories, and so cannot possibly tell the complete story of Detroit’s Chinese community. For more information on this topic, consider contacting the American Chinese Association of Detroit. For images of Detroit's other Asian American communities, please visit please visit our digital project, the Virtual Motor City or our image gallery Metro Detroit Ethnic Communities. To view images that are not digitized, or to view a short film that features Chinese businesses and cultural events in Detroit, please make an appointment with an audiovisual archivist at reutherav@wayne.edu.